Vietnamese short films being shown at US universities

A Vietnam News Agency report on Sunday quoted the Hanoi-based Center for the Advancement of Movie Talents as saying that the films are being screened at 13 famous universities including Yale and Princeton from the prestigious Ivy League.

The project was sponsored by the Institute for Vietnamese Culture and Education, a nonprofit organization in New York working to promote Vietnamese culture in the US through educational exchanges between the two countries.

According to the agency under the Vietnam Cinema Association, three of the films were produced as part of the We Are Filmmakers project aimed at developing the country's cinematic talent.

The other two came from 89,600km+, a project initiated by the Vietnamese-owned Blue Productions, also to encourage young filmmakers.

The themes for the selected films are based on the daily lives of Vietnamese laborers such as those who work in the coal industry (Le My Cuong's "Hard Coaling" ); xe om drivers (Nguyen Thi Tham's "Hugging Honda"); and street vendors ("The Banana Vendor’s Love" by Huynh Thanh Sy).

They also feature Vietnamese youth culture (Nguyen Anh Thu's "When We Were 20") and family relationships ("Give Me a Ticket to My Childhood" by Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong).

Admission to all the screenings is free for students, but some universities charge the general public US$5-15.